Archived News:

Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013

Electronic Arts Reports Q3 FY13 Financial Results has the latest preliminary earnings figures for the gaming giant. The losses they report are less than the same period last year, and things are going well according to top brass: "Despite a challenging quarter, we were able to deliver non-GAAP EPS at the high end of our guidance range," said Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello. "We are investing for the future wave of growth that we foresee in digital and console." VG247 has details from the post earnings conference call, where some of the blame was for the quarter's losses was heaped upon Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which performed "well below expectations" and "didn’t deliver," with COO Peter Moore saying the game also deserved better reviews than it received. Word is the military shooter franchise is being "taken out of rotation," and will return after an unspecified "rest."

Sony Online Entertainment announces the launch of Wizardry Online for North American and European gamers, offering a free-to-play MMORPG based on the classic fantasy gaming franchise. This producer's letter accompanies the launch, talking about the transition from the betas to going live, and the announcement talks of the various features, such as a form of permadeath, that leads them to claim this to be "the most hardcore fantasy MMORPG ever created" (carefully avoiding an invasion of EVE Online spacecraft by specifying a genre). Here's the feature list:

Lost System: Not even death is easy in Wizardry Online. Players will need to donate to revive themselves -- and a poor donation runs the risk of failure. If they are unsuccessful twice, their character will vanish, said to be "Lost" and become unplayable forever. The player's experience will be noted on the Soul (account), allowing for an easier start for the next character.

Massive Dungeons: The game's dungeons present a variety of traps and powerful monsters for those who dare to invade their territory.

Skill Customization: Players can customize characters by combining skills from current or previous classes. With Wizardry Online's skill heredity system, players can create a fighter who can heal or a mage to steal items from monsters.

Bounty Hunt System: In addition to monsters, players will try to kill and rob other players for rare items. Such players are deemed Criminals and may attack anywhere and at any time. Players may offer a bounty such as gold for the death of any criminal and other players will compete to bring that character down.

Familiar Races: The game offers a variety of races known from previous Wizardry games, including humans, elves, porkuls, gnomes and dwarves. These races have different advantages towards weapons and skills.

Wizardry Online is now available as a "Free to Play. Your Way.™" game to all PC players in North America and Europe (optional content is available for purchase).

SimBin announces the RaceRoom Racing Experience is now in open beta, and those interested in test driving their new motorsports simulation can grab it on Steam. Here's a bit on the free part of this: "As part of the Free2Race concept, all registered users are given free access to a wide selection of cars and tracks. The free-to-play content in this release consists of the famous 134 Judd car driven by the late Georg Plasa, Canhard R52, Saleen S7R, Aquila CR1 Sports GT and the DMD P20 together with the RaceRoom Raceway circuit and the scenic Lakeview Hillclimb which is based on a forest road in Sweden." The store that supports the free-to-play game is now open, offering sales of new cars, tracks, and game modes. Those who join right away will get some freebies, though, as word is: "During the first two weeks from release, SimBin is giving away the Get Real™ game mode, and the learning tool, Apex Hunt™ as a tribute and a thank you to the members of the closed beta."

Here's a new video (NSFW) showing off multiplayer tactics in Aliens: Colonial Marines, the first-person shooter in development at Gearbox Software (taken from the Xbox 360 edition). Word is: "Showing a select number of special abilities on both the Xenomorph and the Marine side, the trailer gives you a glimpse at the various tactical choices that players need to make when playing the game’s competitive, asymmetrical multiplayer." Continue here to read the full story.

A post on eXophase.com lists PS3 trophies for Year of the Snake, an upcoming unannounced DLC pack for Sleeping Dogs, United Front's action/adventure game. There is also this video, noted by Eurogamer, with footage to support this premise, though it's origins are unclear, and they also interpret the trophies, saying: "the add-on will involve joining a bomb squad and defeating cultists, as well as acquiring yet more collectibles and other macguffins scattered about the game's virtual Hong Kong." In the meantime, Steam offers two new small packs for the game: The Movie Master Pack and The Monkey King Pack for USD $1.99 each.

The Terms of Service for the newCrysis 3 open beta includes language about banning players for not reporting bugs, recalling the recently quelled controversy over the SimCity beta ToS threating a mab from all EA games for failure to report bugs. This new End-User License Agreement issue apparently has the same resolution as the previous one, as games.on.net notes a tweet explaining: "We did - it was baked into the Beta before we realized it had the 'Bug Ban' clause. We aren't enforcing that." They also link a follow-up tweet saying: "We'll be releasing a blog post about that soon, but for now rest assured we aren't banning players for finding bugs." So we now know why EULAs and ToSes are so lengthy: Even the people making the games can't be bothered to read the crap they let their lawyers stuff into them.

En Masse Entertainment announces next Tuesday is the exact start date for the subscription-free era in TERA, their MMORPG. Here's word on the change, and plans to support it with new content:

En Masse Entertainment confirms that its award-winning Action MMO, TERA, will be available without a subscription starting on February 5th. The game will be known as TERA: Rising, and can be played for free starting on that date, with in-game store and Elite options available for players who want to customize their gameplay experience. New players will be able to enjoy Standard status for free with no level cap or content restrictions and all players who have purchased the client will gain permanent Founder status with special privileges. This news has swept through the MMO community as fans – both new and lapsed – are eagerly anticipating the upcoming launch. Lapsed players are signing back up while new players pick up the game to ensure their eligibility for Founder status in anticipation of the new TERA: Rising options.

Adding to the community excitement over the game’s evolution, En Masse will launch new in-game content on February 5th, including the new Crucible of Flame multi-level dungeon, and a new three-on-three PvP battleground.

The DC Universe Online Website announces the availability of Home Turf, the newest DLC for the superhero MMORPG. The release is supported by this launch trailer and the following explanation of how you can have your own Superman-style walk-in freezer or go spelunking in your very own bat-cave: "DC Universe Online is proud to present Home Turf, our sixth DLC Pack! Home Turf introduces customizable Player Bases, powerful new abilities provided by your Base's Mainframe, action-focused one on one Player vs. Player Lair Battles, engaging new solo story content in iconic Gotham City and Metropolis locations, and loads of new gear and rewards. Watch the brand new trailer below, then log in and start building your very own Base today!" Continue here to read the full story.

Gaijin Entertainment announces that War Thunder is now in open beta, allowing access for all interested in checking out this World War II aerial combat MMOG. Here's a bit to catch you up on the game: "War Thunder offers a highly detailed and personalized aviation experience, giving players access to hundreds models of planes with detailed cockpits, dozens of upgradeable weapons, and flying skills that can be honed and improved with each mission. Thanks to the game’s painstaking attention to detail, you’ll truly feel like a World War II fighter pilot as you plunge into battle."

NeoGAF points the way to a trailer posted about five months ago calling itself a "rough cut-demo" of Ubisoft's Osiris, saying this was a "Demo commissioned by Ubisoft Studios (Montreal)." No such project has been announced, and IGN notes that the clip resembles screenshots discovered last year which were thought to be of a Prince of Persia reboot. With PoP officially paused, IGN now speculates this may be a new IP.

A new Kickstarter seeks a modest $40,000 to support development of ROAM, an eponymous online co-op action game from startup developer ROAM. ROAM (the developer) is a two-man team, including Ryan Sharr, recently laid off by Gas Powered Games amid the wild ride of the Wildman Kickstarter. Here's word on ROAM (the game): "You and up to three friends (online co-op) must scour a grim, ravaged world, where you have complete freedom to choose where you roam, what you do, and how you allocate and use the precious-few resources you will find on your journey. Every action in the game represents a choice - and each choice has pros, cons, and consequences." Thanks Eurogamer.

I'm going to have to go on a hunt today to track down a noise in my office which has either just begun, or at least just become noticeable to the point of annoyance. It's a fairly high-pitched whine coming from my PC, so I assume it's a cooling fan, and hopefully a little compressed air will take care of it, though it's always possible something will need replacing. I keep thinking this entire years-old machine will need replacing one of these days, but it keeps trucking along like the Terminator, and every time I think it's developed some fatal issue, I find a cure just as soon. Maybe this time it's terminal just because I'm assuming it isn't, and the fates just love to mess with assumptions. We shall see.

Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013

The Prince of Persia franchise is currently "paused," is Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat's answer to IGN when asked about the status of the series. "Brand management is a tricky thing," Mallat told IGN. "It needs people's attention a lot. I think it is fair to say that, right now, Prince of Persia is being paused. But we said the same thing for some other brands that suddenly popped up because a team is willing to do it." His answers seem to indicate nothing is coming of the screenshot uncovered last summer, but his comments indicate the series is not dead, just resting.

Paradox Interactive announces Dungeonland has opened its virtual doors thanks to digital distribution, offering the chance to play the Windows edition of the strategy game. Here's the release trailer, and here's word:

NEW YORK —January 29, 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games and consumer of funnel cake, and Critical Studio, the lamented minions of Dungeon Maestro, today announced that Dungeonland has opened its doors to easily lured heroes everywhere. Available today for PC via digital distributors worldwide, Dungeonland can be purchased, downloaded, played, and quickly lost over and over again by soft, fleshy adventurers to their heart’s content. Dungeonland costs merely $9.99 plus the lives of your co-op partners.

“I can’t tell you how pleased I am to finally welcome the world to Dungeonland,” said the Dungeon Maestro, Director of Scheming at Paradox Interactive. “This represents a bold step forward not just for my glorious plans, but for the evil industry as a whole. Opening day is just the beginning, as well; today PC heroes can ‘enjoy’ their visits, but soon I’ll be able to lure MacOS heroes to my park as well! Better still, there’s a whole new section we’re going to open shortly, called Infinite Dungeon! We tell the heroes it’s the best challenge we have, where the fights just get harder and harder until they die – and the idiots line right up to try it!

AMD Support now offers a new Catalyst 13.2 Beta Driver for Windows 8/7/Vista. This offers several performance improvements, including the new Crysis 3 beta, and word is: "Future updates will be made to AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta to further improve performance in Crysis 3 for both single GPU and CrossFire configurations"

Destructoid has details from a new update on the PlayStation Store that reveals mictrotransaction names and prices for Dead Space 3, showing packs that range from $0.99 to $4.99 (and a $9.99 online pass to screw up used console game sales). Also, a new Dead Space 3Dev Blog features an outline from executive producer Steve Papoutsis on various details about the imminent third installment in the shooter series, including game modes (thanks HARDOCP). Here's a bit:

What else can you choose to do? How about play DS3 in 4 unlockable game modes! Each mode is on-disc, and becomes available when you beat the game once. There’s New Game+, which lets you start a new game with all your upgrades and arsenal intact. There’s Classic Mode, which is for the DS1 veterans out there. It’s single-player only, uses “classic” aiming, and there’s no crafting – all weapons have to be built from blueprints, a la the original game. Another mode is Pure Survival Mode. If you like survival horror and resource management, this is the mode for you. Enemies ONLY drop resources, and there’s no ammo, health, or weapon parts to be found. You’ll have to choose what to craft every time you see a bench. Upgrade? Med Pack? Plasma Core? Think fast – there’s a Waster right around the corner! Finally, we have the aptly-named Hardcore Mode. Choose this mode, and you only get one life to live for the entire campaign. Make sure to wear a clean pair of boxers when you play…

A new video developer diary is now available on MarvelHeroes.com, the official website of Marvel Heroes, the action/MMORPG coming this spring from Gazillion Entertainment. The clip shows what goes into the creation of a hero for the game, sharing thoughts on the topic from Gazillion staff including Ultimate Marvel co-creator Brian Michael Bendis and Diablo co-creator David Brevik. Also, the Marvel Heroes Founders Program is underway, offering the chance to spend anywhere from $19.99 to a Gazillion dollars (actually $199.99) on your choice of packages of perks and unlocks in the free-to-play game. Continue here to read the full story.

This trailer highlights the character creation process in Omerta - City of Gangsters, Haemimont's upcoming organized crime game. Here's word:

City of Gangsters, your success as a crime lord depends upon your choice of henchmen and the unique skills your “Boss” brings to the table. Today, we're pleased to release a new video that showcases the Boss creation system from Omerta, along with featuring an assortment of thugs and thieves that you'll be able to recruit for your burgeoning crime syndicate. Grab the new video and get a first-hand look at Omerta - City of Gangsters, the city-conquest game that will have you taking over a 1920’s Prohibition-era Atlantic City through strategically applied brute force and business sense, while pulling off daring heists and fighting turf wars in tactical turn-based combat.

Wild Games Studio has launched a Kickstarter for Day One Garry's Incident, the adventure game they previously sought to fund via their own alpha funding program. Here's part of their pitch:

Based in Montreal's growing game community. Wild Game Studios and our game designer Stephane Woods are excited to bring a whole new adventure game to the scene. They are creating a whole new approach to First Person Shooter, RPG and adventure game genre. Day One: Garry's Incident is a mature Adventure FPS Survival Game of a whole new kind. This project will allow us to complete episode one and eventually bring the complete series on game console in a multiplayer co-op format. Between episodes, we take your feedback and develop the elements you want to see in-game, in order to deliver you the ultimate gaming experience.

The GeForce Website has details on the PhysX-enhanced edition of Hawken, saying this is currently available in the free-to-play mech game to owners of appropriate NVIDIA hardware. They offer this trailer to show off what this looks like. Continue here to read the full story.

Gamasutra has the following brief official confirmation from Disney of the rumor that Epic Mickey developer Junction Point Studios is closing:

It was with much sadness that we informed our teams today of changes to our Games organization, which include the closure of Junction Point Studios. These changes are part of our ongoing effort to address the fast-evolving gaming platforms and marketplace and to align resources against our key priorities. We’re extremely grateful to Warren Spector and the Junction Point team for their creative contributions to Disney with Disney Epic Mickey and Disney Epic Mickey 2.

This trailer is to help players get started playing in the multiplayer beta for Crysis 3, as widespread testing of Crytek's shooter sequel commences today. The clip features producer Mike Reed providing insider insights in two of the game's eight multiplayer modes. This interested in playing the beta can sign up on this page. Thanks Polygon. Continue here to read the full story.

Even as Crysis 3 enters open beta, as noted above, Crytek is also moving ahead with Warface, saying the free-to-play multiplayer shooter is now entering closed beta testing. This trailer shows off the beta, and features lots of in-game combat. If you want to participate, you should register on the official website and show them your war face. Continue here to read the full story.

A tweet by Casey Hudson and another by Mike Gamble each offer new Mass Effect 3 screenshots, presumably from the DLC presumed to be in the works for BioWare's action/RPG sequel. Hudson's shot shows the Citadel's Silver Coast casino and says "Looks like a nice place for some R&R," while Gamble (shouldn't he have posted th4e casino shot with that name?) offers a shot of a Krogan, and says: "Does not look like a guy you'd want to mess with." Thanks Videogamer.

This trailer from Rebellion teases the next project from the Sniper Elite developer, offering some mysterious footage, linking to email signups on this website, and saying we will learn more next month. Rock, Paper, Shotgun tries to divine what this means, but we should know soon enough, as the caption says we will learn more on Valentine's Day:

One man is utterly alone amidst the chaos of war. But there are worse things to fear than bombs and bullets here...

Xyla Entertainment announces that Rush Bros. is now available via digital distribution, offering a cross-platform rhythm platformer where you can use your own music (even if it's not by Rush). The DRM-free Windows and OS X editions can be purchased from the sites listed on this page, and they say an Android version is currently in the works. Here's a blurb on the game: "In Rush Bros. you will take control of one of two DJs to race across a stylised world of treacherous traps and perfectly placed platforms while using your environment to try to stop the other DJ from reaching the finish before you do. You will be able to see your opponent at all times, so make sure to keep an eye on your foe as they will try to obstruct your progress as well."

This website heralds development of Full Mojo Rampage, described as "A rogue-like game in a Voodoo world" by indie developer Over the Top Games (NyxQuest). The game is coming to Windows PCs, with the possibility of console ports down road, and they expect to offer open beta access to those who buy the game when it is offered for preorders, which is currently expected to be in early April. Here's word:

Welcome to the world of Full Mojo Rampage where you get to control a Voodoo keeper throughout his adventures. As the player you’ll need to guide him safely through each level whilst hunting for voodoo dolls and mojos. These mojos can be found throughout the game in the form of amulets and trinkets that bring him strength and luck. They also unleash an array of other powers that you can craft to your own advantage in order to truly master the terrible powers of Voodoo.

This trailer introduces Sins of a Dark Empire, the upcoming strategy/RPG MOBA dealie from Sins of a Solar Age developer Ironclad games. Accompanied by new screenshots and artwork, the clip features gameplay footage and developer commentary to set the stage for the game, describes plans for post-release content including new heroes and quests to keep things fresh for players, and discusses the interplay of strategies they are seeking to create. Continue here to read the full story.

Lace Mamba Global offers a response to the recent report that CBE software has dropped them as publisher for J.U.L.I.A. due to non payment. They claim a misunderstanding due to an inability to contact anyone at the developer, and say they have been working to put this horse back in the barn:

It has come to our attention that after a Press Release on 24/1/13 by CBE Software reports have been published and circulated surrounding the non-payment of the developer CBE Software by Lace Mamba Global. This press release contained a number of inaccuracies and false statements that we had only become aware of via the release of this statement. Lace Mamba Global would like to state that they have tried to contact CBE Software to resolve this issue amicably but have yet been successful in raising a response. Subsequently this press release has been the basis for some speculation and the publishing of several news articles, again containing inaccurate information. Lace Mamba Global would like to state that they were not given any opportunity to respond to any of these allegations prior to publication and has since contacted all individual parties involved to have these articles removed and to discuss the situation further.

I needed to bathe the doggies yesterday and determined that the Gunnar-man needed a haircut, so I busted out the scissors. I had let his coat get to a wonderfully shaggy state (to the extent that you probably wouldn't guess he is a poodle), but it was getting too long to be manageable. The thing is, I'm not very subtle about these things, so he's gone from pretty long hair to pretty short hair, all perfectly timed to go outside in the bitter cold. Luckily, he runs so hot he doesn't seem to care, and he seems to like it better this way, so I may need to just keep him more trimmed all the time, poodle look and all.